The answer was No, but what was the question? In the end, the AV referendum result became something of an inevitability, but on what grounds was this decision reached?

The local election results across the country demonstrated that Liberal Democrat supporters have deserted their party, for the meantime at least, presumably as a result of their coalition with the Conservatives, and unpopular policy changes. How much did this influence choices made in voting against Nick Clegg’s preferred Yes vote?

Let’s not forget that a No victory wasn’t always on course, and that favour swung that way in the run up to voting day. Was the result down to the strength of campaigning, or at least the relative amounts of bitching, on either side of the argument?

A look at the full results of the referendum show that only ten out of 440 areas voted Yes in majority. More intriguingly, they were all situated in old university towns: six in London, and once each for Oxford, Cambridge, Edinburgh Central and Glasgow Kelvin (read: central). So while the students have perhaps been stung most sharply by the Lib Dem’s policy swerving, they also appear to be among the least swayed in reaching their decision.

For now, though, the people have spoken. I’m just hoping this is not the end of the matter.